(St. Louis, MO) The Petek family of Des Moines spent five-and-a-half hours Sunday driving a rental car home from St. Louis. They say Southwest Airlines refused to let them board a connecting flight home when their autistic son couldn’t wear his face mask. The incident happened at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Cody and Paige Petek and their two children were returning from a Florida vacation. Their five-year-old non-verbal son was struggling to wear his mask due to a sensory processing disorder. Southwest Airlines says it was following federal law.
